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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW
by Doyle Brunson
INTRODUCTION
Thanks to the recent media explosion taking place around no-limit tournament
poker, learning how to play in tournaments is becoming more and more advantageous
for every poker player. Tournaments are vastly different from cash games,
because if you lose what you have in front of you, you are out of the
tournament. You will come across many opposing strategies as you and your
opponents wrestle with this fact.
There are very few players who’ve had substantial success in both
tournaments and regular money games, and I’m fortunate to be one
of them. I’ve had really good luck in tournament play over the years,
even though I still prefer the cash games. So here are my thoughts on
the tournaments.
THE FIRST DAY
Early Rounds
There are two basic styles of play in tournament poker: tight and loose.
Of course, there is a lot of room in between, so there are really many
different speeds you can use.
At the early levels of a no-limit tournament, I prefer playing extremely
tight. I don’t try to force the action. I just win what the cards
allow me to win as safely as possible.
If you’ve read the original Super/System or the no-limit chapter
in this book, you know that that goes completely against my way of playing
no-limit hold’em in cash games. My main thought at these early levels
is on the value of the chips, since their value now is much higher than
it will be later on. If you advance far enough, the antes and blinds will
exceed all the chips you have in front of you early in the tournament.
Play the early levels, especially the first two levels, carefully and
try to avoid the all-in, coin-flip hands.
Try to play small pots, raise a lot of pots with marginal hands, but be
prepared to play very cautiously if you get called. You must have a better
hand to call than to raise. For example, raise, but don’t call,
with A? J?, 7? 7?, K? J?.
Be disciplined and be ready to lay down marginal hands. I once saw Phil
Hellmuth, who has had great success in no-limit hold’em tournaments,
lay down a K? J? to a Q? 10? 2? flop. He had raised the pot, bet at it
on the flop, and got raised all his chips. It was early in the tournament
and Phil passed, even though he had a draw at an open-ended straight flush.
This is something that would never happen in a cash game. I’m not
sure I would have passed, but it was probably correct to do so, given
that Phil expected to have even bigger advantages later. Needless to say,
my opinion of Phil’s no-limit tournament play went up several points
after that hand.
Same Strategy
Remember, most of the players at your table, especially the professional
players, have basically the same strategy. They know they have to advance
to the next level, so they are extremely cautious. The amateurs want to
play awhile, so they are usually playing tight to begin with. Sometimes
you have a player at your table that throws caution to the wind and plays
like a wild man, raising and betting every pot. You have to eventually
take a stand, but the small blind structure allows you to get a quality
hand before you challenge that wild man.
After the First Two Levels
If you can increase your chips by 15 to 25 percent in the first two levels,
you have done well. After that, you must adopt more liberal standards.
You can make more stabs at the limpers and at the antes and blinds. You
should usually make a bet on the flop whenever you are the last raiser
pre-flop, but be ready to put the brakes on if you get called. I don’t
usually advocate check-calling after the flop, but even with a very good
hand, this is a safer way of playing at this stage of the tournament.
It keeps you from getting broke.
You have to carefully evaluate your table, particularly if it isn’t
going to break for a while. You have to be aware of the size of the chip
stack each player has. Remember, the short stacks are more likely to go
all-in before the flop with marginal hands than the larger stacks. However,
the short stacks can be pushed around more easily after the flop than
the big stacks.
If it’s apparent that your table isn’t going to break, you
want to seem as if you’re unafraid to race by moving all-in occasionally.
That is the best image. You try to wait for a favorable opportunity to
go all-in, and you are almost always hoping not to get called. If I can
double my chips the first day, I’m happy.
THE SECOND DAY
After the first day, you’ll want to accelerate your play a little
more. Not by a lot, because you have to remember that you can’t
win the tournament until the last day! But you have to accumulate some
chips in order to have a better chance to survive the ante and blind increase.
You need to be aware of your own chip count and your position in the tournament.
A few years ago, I had an early rush the second day and grabbed $70,000,
which put me among the leaders. I had a fast table with several large
stacks. On one hand, the player in first position opened, and the player
in third position, who had about $50,000 in chips and two WSOP championship
bracelets, made a large raise. I looked down at my hand and found two
kings. I considered my position in the tournament and then threw them
away.
I’ve always felt I made the right play, because I was probably either
going to win a small pot or lose most of my chips. The player I laid that
hand down to was Ron Stanley. He told me later that he had two aces, but
he also told a friend of mine that my kings were good. Either way, I believe
I was correct in throwing them away, because $70,000 was sufficient to
get me comfortably through the next levels, and losing $50,000 would have
been disastrous. Ironically, when we were down to twenty-three players,
the same Ron Stanley broke me with pocket aces.
Here’s one last thought about day two play: Just because you get
short stacked, don’t be suicidal late in the day. Remember that
the blinds and antes increase again starting the third day, and in major
tournaments the prize pools are so big that it’s worth your time
and effort to try to catch an early rush. To be in real contention you
need four to eight times your original buy-in.
THE THIRD DAY
Entering the third day, even if it is a four- or five-day tournament,
I am about ready to start playing as I play in the cash games. I have
to remind myself, “Don’t be afraid to go broke!” Perhaps
I won’t play quite as loose as I play the cash games, but now I’m
prepared to take races on other close gambles in what I think are favorable
situations.
Make no mistake about it, you have to be very, very lucky to win one of
these major tournaments. It’s impossible to play the entire tournament
and always be a prohibitive favorite when the money goes in. So you can
see the parlay that is required to win a large tournament. The players
that continue to play very tight sometimes go deep into the tournaments,
but seldom win. When they arrive at the later tables, they are short-stacked
and facing a huge ante and blinds. They are forced to race for their chips
before they are ready, so they are decided underdogs to the big stacks,
who can better control their destinies. You need to take control of your
table if possible. You can’t help what is happening at the other
tables.
THE FINAL TABLE
If you are lucky enough to make the final table, you need to evaluate
your position. For example, if you have second-place chips and there are
several short stacks, you might try to avoid any major confrontations
until several players are eliminated. This depends on your financial situation
and your desire to win the tournament. If you really need the money and
you have a comfortable chip position, you can often assure yourself of
a second or third place finish by playing carefully. That will result
in a very nice payday in these ever-increasing large tournaments.
However, if your main interest is to win the tournament, this is a prime
situation to really play aggressively and try to get closer to the leader
or even overtake him. The difference in fifth place and first place is
so huge that most players are just trying to hang on and can be pushed
around in most pots.
My main objective has always been to win the tournament. Even before I
was financially secure, I always did what I thought was best to achieve
my goal of winning first place. You need to think about these things before
you start a tournament and decide what is best for you. So if you are
lucky enough to get to the last table, you’ll be ready.
WILD CARD
There is one more thing you may need to consider. The ever-increasing
number of weaker players entering the tournaments has added a new element
in poker. I call it “two-card hold’em.” These weaker
players know that they can’t compete with the better players and
that they will get out-played in the latter stages of the hands, so they
simply wait for two high cards or a wired pair and bet all their chips
before the flop. I’ve seen this type of player go deep into the
second and third day of the tournaments by doing this. I think Neal Furlong,
a winner of the WSOP championship, mostly used this strategy.
I remember when Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was playing T. J. Cloutier
in the 2000 WSOP finals. T. J., who I think is probably the premier tournament
player in the world today, was whittling Chris away, chopping out the
pots without having to gamble very much. Chris recognized this after a
while and decided he had to force the action. So Chris made a comeback,
and got even with T.J. in chips. Then Chris got A-9 and moved in. T.J.
had A-Q and called. Then a 9 came on the flop and Chris won the championship.
Again, as in Hellmuth’s case, Chris moved up in my opinion by a
huge amount. He has proven it was no fluke by winning five bracelets at
the WSOP. T. J. is the leading money winner in that tournament without
ever winning the main event.
In closing, let me quote my favorite line from my limit hold’em
collaborator, Jennifer Harman. “The winner of a heads-up pot will
generally be the player who plays better in marginal situations.”
If you are interested in how I recommend you play in the cash games and
the later stages of the tournaments, turn the page.
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